Continuous scaling of silicon-based metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has contributed to relentless advances in semiconductor technology. As the device scale approaches nanometer ranges, further scaling of semiconductor devices faces various challenges. Some challenges arise from the quantum mechanical nature of material properties at atomic dimensions such as gate tunneling current. Some other challenges arise from the stochastic nature of material properties such as fluctuations in dopant concentration on a microscopic scale, and resulting spread in threshold voltage and leakage current at semiconductor junctions. These and other challenges in semiconductor technology have renewed interest in semiconductor devices having non-conventional geometry.
A technology solution developed to enhance performance of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices and used extensively in advanced semiconductor devices is semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) technology. While an SOI MOSFET typically offers advantages over a MOSFET with comparable dimensions and built on a bulk substrate by providing a higher on-current and lower parasitic capacitance between the body and other MOSFET components, the SOI MOSFET tends to have less consistency in the device operation due to “history effect,” or “floating body effect,” in which the potential of the body, and subsequently, the timing of the turn-on and the on-current of the SOI MOSFET are dependent on the past history of the SOI MOSFET. Furthermore, the level of leakage current also depends on the voltage of the floating body, which poses a challenge in the design of a low power SOI MOSFET.
The body of an SOI MOSFET stores charge which is dependent on the history of the device, hence becoming a “floating” body. As such, SOI MOSFETs exhibit threshold voltages which are difficult to anticipate and control, and which vary in time. The body charge storage effects result in dynamic sub-threshold voltage (sub-Vt) leakage and threshold voltage (Vt) mismatch among geometrically identical adjacent devices.
One exemplary semiconductor device in which the floating body effects in SOI MOSFETs are particularly a concern is static random access memory (SRAM) cells, in which Vt matching is extremely important as operating voltages continue to scale down. The floating body also poses leakage problems for pass gate devices. Another exemplary semiconductor device in which the floating body effects are a concern is stacked SOI MOSFET structures, as used in logic gates, in which the conductive state of SOI MOSFET devices higher up in the stack are strongly influenced by stored body charge, resulting in reduced gate-to-source voltage (Vgs) overdrive available to these devices. Yet other exemplary semiconductor devices in which control of the floating body effects is critical are sense amplifiers for SRAM circuits and current drivers in a current mirror circuit.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure minimizing the floating body effect and providing consistent performance, and methods of manufacturing the same.
Further, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure that advantageously employs the floating body effect for useful function, and methods of manufacturing the same.
Yet further, there exists a need for a semiconductor structure that improves performance, for example, by increasing on-current per unit device area, over existing semiconductor devices, and methods of manufacturing the same.